The manager has played down suggestions that a deal is certain, although he gave fans hope over the weekend that Lukaku may return to Goodison Park.

In a YouTube video captured for a fans' website during the club's preseason trip to Thailand -- where they lost 1-0 to Leicester in a friendly on Sunday -- the manager responded to a supporter asking if Everton would sign the 21-year-old by saying: "Of course we'll get him."